Now What?
by Whistlebird
Summary: Water surrounds Mile's hometown chapel and Nim is the only one not worried about being stranded on top. Creatures are not far away, and Miles wonders who these strangers are and how they will react...Now what? Takes place after the finale.
1. Now What?

"Now what?"

The words hung in the air between us all for a second or two before they were swallowed up by the thick silence that was slowly stifling me. For another half a minute, no one answered or even moved.

Then eyes that had been staring into the waterlogged distance turned toward me with reluctance, as if pulled out of the daze I felt myself. Three pairs of eyes still clouded with shock at our sudden, _very bad_ situation.

After a second, all of our eyes reverted back toward the surrounding view. It wasn't my hometown city in South Carolina anymore. If this had been a picture from some remote place my best friend Phil showed me, I would say it was cool. But, dude, this was not cool. If it was, it was cool in a very weird and terrifying way. What we should have been looking at was a crowded bunch of buildings and houses, tall and short, spreading about as far as the eye could see—which was pretty far. The streets would be below us—_Far_ below us. And there would be people.

Sure, we saw buildings. And we could still see clear out into the distance because of our spot on the top of this cathedral's spire roof thing. But we could only see the tops of the tallest buildings now. A sea of water surrounded us on all sides, in all directions. A little unidentifiable wreckage floated here and there. But there were no streets and the people that used to live here were long gone on the ferry headed for safety, along with my parents, sarcastic sister Savanna, and that jerk who stole Caitlin's scooter, forcing me to come back here to save her.

I shook my head thinking and stared down at my hands. I could feel now Nim's instinct and the electric power that was trapped inside me ever since my pet's little friends bit me and I ended up in the hospital. It was ready to jump out and attack. That was two people I had hurt now: the bully (my sister's ex boyfriend) and the dude who stole Caitlin's scooter. People were afraid of me. I was afraid of myself. It wasn't right.

And all this ocean—it seemed to tug at me as if inviting, and I could sense more than just water out in the distance. We were alone up in this tall cathedral spire roof thing for now, but not for long. I could sense them all, creatures like Nimrod but much, much bigger. Did we have even the smallest chance of surviving this?

Nim was restless on the wall in front of me. He gave out his little dragon-like cry and frolicked, inviting me to play. I smiled and he began to "purr" in his own way that sounded a lot like a bunch of pebbles falling repeatedly onto wet stones.

He was my friend, the little lizardfish squirt I raised from an egg and the one that caused me so much trouble with dogcatchers, parents, friends and restaurant owners.

He _was_ pretty crazy looking. His dull wet greenish skin rippled with little bunched muscles, especially in his forequarters. Spines of some kind frilled down the length of his compact little body and ended in a thin, fin-like tail. His claws were webbed and his eyes were like a cat's. Self consciously I remembered my own eyes had started looking the same recently.

My thoughts were interrupted thankfully by the two strangers standing on the other side of Caitlin. For the first time I really looked at them. Who were they anyway? I didn't know and instinct told me I should be careful.

The woman had a determined looking face framed by thick wavy brown hair, hard but kind eyes and a sharp, defiant looking chin. She held a long fingered hand up to her temple as she paced, despite our cramped space, and spoke rapidly, almost frantically.

"Rich, we need to do something. Something…w—we need a plan. _Something_. I know we can get out of here if we just think a bit. Before those—more of those creatures come back to pick us off. We can't lose hope, right? We'll just think up a plan and get out of here. I don't think we can wait for search and rescue. Does anyone even know we're out here?"

"My parents know me and Caitlin were left behind," I offered. I had jumped off the ferry before their eyes. They'd better know we were here.

"That's good." The woman stopped pacing and faced me. "They have a cell phone, right?"

"Uh, I think so…—"

"So we'll call them and...but how can _they_ get to us? Rich, anything?"

The tall, brown haired, burly man beside her stood at a loss and shook his head firmly. "Calm down a little, Laura. I got nothing. So far. But we will." His voice held a small southern accent. He crossed his arms and stood more firmly, his serious, rough face frowning at the ground before us, shoulders tense. This guy was the one who worried me. Seriously, he'd been about ready to punch me after I didn't stop in time and almost ran over him and the other lady in my parent's siphoned car—accidentally. I thought we didn't have time to stop with that tsunami on our heels! And this Rich guy was practically freaking out when he saw Nim in the back seat with us after he took over driving. But then, everyone was afraid of Nimrod—even Caitlin sometimes. He did eat a dog, after all.

I glanced over at Caitlin. Her brown eyes still looked red from crying back there in the room below us before the second wave struck. At least the woman Laura seemed okay. She comforted Caitlin when I couldn't and just stood there, not knowing what to do. Laura didn't seem too confident right now though. Who could blame her?

Rich dug in his pocket and brought out a cell phone. "This is all we've got, right? So let's use it. Get the kid to call his parents and, supposing we survive long enough, with no food or water and sea monsters,"he pointed at Nim, "like that and bigger after us, we can at least count on someone knowing we're out here. We've survived in the middle of a freezing ocean before, I'm sure we can survive on top a building for a bit."

He stepped forward and held the cell phone out to me. "What's your name again, kid?"

"Miles Bennet," I answered and reached out to take the phone.

But I never got the chance to take it. My luck struck out again. As I stretched my fingers out in the phone's direction, a spark, green colored, electric, and deathly bright leaped from my fingers and hit the phone with a bright flare and a fizzing sound that made my heart sink. Not again.

I jerked my hand back and stared at the cell phone now on the ground, dropped in a rush. It probably wouldn't work any more. Rich jumped back and hugged his hand to his chest while gawking at me in shock. Caitlin looked away. Laura who hadn't been watching stopped abruptly and turned in my direction, confused.

"What happened? I heard something. What just zapped?"

"I'm sorry!" I mumbled and backed away from everyone else. Nim pranced over along the wall, oblivious.

_Why did this always happen?_ I didn't want to hurt anyone else. It was enough that the bully had third degree burns all over his body and there were angry, frightened parents ready to burn me at the stake before the police interfered and warned everyone of the tsunami. It was enough that my parents and even Caitlin thought I was some kind of freak. I _was_ and I only wished I knew why. I felt it. The electricity, the weird cat eyes, the strange animal instinct, the very _thoughts_ of Nim and his friends swimming through my head—even the salt cravings—it wasn't natural! And now these strangers knew.

"What was that?" Rich asked, blinking. "Some kind of electric charge—? That's some static shock, uh, Miles." He laughed a little nervously.

"I don't get it. What happened?" Laura goggled from me to Rich.

Caitlin had her hands over her face. Then, wearily, she combed her fingers back through her beautiful light brown hair.

_Please don't spill the beans, Caitlin, please, _I pleaded silently.

"Miles…he…Miles, what should I say? I mean, what if they can help? They know about Nim's people, right? They've seen…I don't know, Miles…"

Why did she look close to tears again? I didn't understand. Maybe I could comfort her this time—she was still with me. She didn't hate me for being a freak, after all—it was the least I could do. I took a step toward her, but my outstretched hand became my doom once again as I watched in horror the green flash of a brilliant streak. She cried out and I staggered back, stumbling.

Suddenly, my leg hit the base of the wall and I briefly caught the sound of Nim's whine as I toppled backwards over the wall and fell headfirst into the bleak water far below. The last thing I caught sight of before I hit was a fleeting picture of everyone's faces staring in shock over the edge.

_Now what?_


	2. Over the Edge

Greetings from Whistlebird! Much thanx for the reviews! Sorry it took me so long to post this next chapter and sorry it's so short. But hey, it's finished! This part anyway…

Yes, this next bit's from Caitlin's point of view. I hope you like it. : )

Disclaimer: I do not own the Miles or Caitlin or Laura or Rich or Nim (however much I'd like to) or anyone else in Surface. If I did I would know what actually happened. (cry)

"MILES!!" I screamed over the edge of the chapel roof at the water.

Where was he? Where did he hit? I couldn't see a thing. It was shock for a few moments. It just happened so fast I stood there gawking at the spot of air Miles had filled a second ago. Just a few moments of shock and then the hot tears filling my eyes faster than I could stop them blurred everything—the water, the tips of tall buildings, my own hands as they shook uncontrollably on the wall. What was I doing just standing here stupidly staring at the spot where I thought I had seen him last? Why had I not stopped his fall?

Without even thinking I scrambled to climb onto the precipice. But I had only one leg up when I felt two pairs of strong hands pull me back. I stumbled backwards and sat down hard on the stone, blinking back more tears. I covered my face with my hands.

Dimly, I noticed Nim's hoarse cries. He was moving along the wall, yelling down and pacing. I tried to put the sound out of my head. I wasn't having much success.

"He's gone, he's gone for good," I mumbled bitterly. And it was all my fault.

"Hey, hey, calm down," I heard the man named Rich say. He sounded shocked too, but not enough to satisfy me. "You jump in after him—and that's the last thing that's going to make _anything_ better."

"Yea and what _is_ going to make it better?" I sobbed. "You don't care about Miles, you don't even know him. He just fell over the edge and died and you don't even care…I can't believe he just fell, just like that, and I didn't even…" I stopped, no longer knowing what I was saying.

"Well how do you know he's not alright? Maybe he just…I don't know…" Rich's voice picked up as if there was actually a chance Miles hadn't been killed by falling off a building. "He could be swimming down there right now, right as rain…" he trailed off probably knowing just how much of an effect he was having in convincing me of something so ridiculous.

Laura's somber voice came from the direction of the edge. "Rich, to fall from this height…I don't think anyone could have survived that."

As if in response, Nim cried out. Rich looked at him a little nervously. The little dragon looked out at the ocean then and cried again, like he was greeting someone he knew.

I looked up from my tears. Uh oh. I did not have a good feeling about whatever it was. Something was coming. Again. I had an idea but, oh how I hoped I was wrong. But then, what could we expect? Did we think we'd be ignored?

_Now what?_ I thought.

I lost sight of Nimrod as he jumped over the edge and into the watery wreckage below. I leaned over, no suicidal intentions this time, and searched my drowned hometown. Nim was nowhere to be seen. Miles…I couldn't see him either. I turned away, not wanting to think. _Miles…!_


	3. Full Impact

_Hey all! Whistlebird again. Uhh… sorry for the long waits between chapters. I hope No one's too angry I've been so absorbed in getting ready for and then getting used to college that it's taken me a while to get back to writing anything. So here's the next chapter and back to Miles' perspective! Hope it's ok…_

_And I don't own any of the characters from Surface_

_-----------_

I wasn't sure but the impact as I hit the water must have knocked me unconscious for a second or two because I awoke to the very literal feeling of sinking. My first thoughts were of confusion. Where was I? A second ago I was… What was I…

Tiny bubbles left over from the surface slid up my arms and from my clothes. My limbs seemed to be trailing limply above me. As I opened my eyes I could see nothing but streaks of light upward and a murky darkness below. I felt somehow heavy, like I was being pulled downwards, deeper. And there was no resistance from me.

_How had _this_ happened_? I wasn't thinking clearly… Umm… Dimly, I remembered a green light… I fell. Into my hometown…

My next thoughts were of how badly my back and legs burned where I must have hit. And my head ached, throbbing with the memory of something that had felt a whole lot like concrete. Wasn't water supposed to be a liquid? I might as well have fallen out of a car onto cracked pavement. I could hardly move. Dude, my back could be broken for all I knew. I could be paralyzed for life or something like that. How was I supposed to swim when I was paralyzed? For a second I started to panic—I was paralyzed, wasn't I? What would happen to me if that were true?? Where was Nim?

I continued to sink for what seemed like a millennia, straight into the cold depths. The surface light began to dim and the darkness rose to meet me. For a moment, it almost seemed calm, secure…distant from the cares of the world… My thoughts clouded over. Everything, everyone still up on that tower seemed so far away. For a second I began to forget again. _Instinct… They were calling… _I struggled to think.

And then a thought, entirely human and completely rational, entered my mind and I felt like I'd fallen headfirst into the water all over again.

How was I not dead?

I came back to myself almost painfully. _Good question, Miles. Why are you not dead? _

How long had I been down here? A few minutes? An hour? I should be long gone. Forget for a moment the fact that I'd just fallen more than ten feet into freezing cold tsunami water onto my back. Forget that I was now sinking in the direction of what could have been a street I'd walked over a thousand times in the time I'd lived here. Forget that that same street was now covered in I-didn't-know-how-many feet of water swarming with bigger Nims than I had ever seen. _Whale_ sized _man-eating _ Nims. I couldn't see any of them for the moment, but I could sense them, just as I could sense Nim somewhere above me. But forget all that for just a second. Here was the real question:

_People don't breath underwater. How was I not dead??_

I should be suffocating by now. I was so far below the surface of the water the pressure alone should be killing me and all I could think about was how much the impact with this ocean had hurt? How weird had my life gotten anyway? Where was Phil to joke all this away?

If I hadn't been forced into thinking so clearly—or at least I _thought_ I was starting to think clearly—I would have played with the idea that I was living some kind messed up dream. Some crazy by-product of too many caffeinated sodas and chocolate pumpkins from Halloween six years ago, all before falling asleep watching some creepy science fiction Horror film. And Phil was drooling on the couch pillows. I mean, what else could cause me to dream up all this insane…whatever it was? Maybe I was really locked up somewhere with the men in white coats, just like what always happens in those movies they tell you not to watch.

No, this was real. I didn't know how, but I knew it was. The town was covered with tsunami water full of Nims and I had just fallen into it, leaving Caitlin and two complete strangers behind on top of the Chapel. And for some reason, I didn't need to breathe.

With an immense effort, I finally convinced myself to move. I wrenched my body into what I thought was an upright position. Well, at least I knew I wasn't paralyzed… I even almost managed to begin swimming with my arms, when my feet bumped something and I suddenly, with a bump, found myself half sitting, half floating on top of what must have been a roof.

I was sitting on a _roof. Underwater._ Where was the man with the video camera?

So I had finally reached the bottom. _Now what?_ I had no clue what I was doing. I just sat, staring around at what I could see of the clouded, eerie remains of my town. It was dark. And I had no one but myself to keep me company, and the tingling fragments of non-human thoughts I could always feel hovering at the corners of my mind, now clearer and closer than ever. For some unexplainable reason, I didn't feel cold. Not in the least. I felt uneasy. Stubbornly, I ignored the strange green light emanating from around me, allowing me to see almost everything from my rooftop overlook.

This was a ghost town now. And I was the ghost.

_Enough of this_. I couldn't stand it down here any longer.

_Guess I should try to get back to the top, _I thought. I would have shivered as I thought of the people I had left up there. What would Caitlin think of me now? She already knew I was a freak. And I guess I had already spent a night underwater with all those Nim's…although I couldn't remember and probably didn't want to remember most of that. But really. Even a girl like her could only take so much. Heck, I wouldn't have wanted to be around me if I was going to get fried or covered in goo every other day.

And what about those strangers? I bet they'd seen what I did. I knew they didn't like Nim. What would they think of a dangerous kid that could zap people just like one of _his kind_? They'd throw me off the building again.

I brought my feet up with and effort and pushed off the roof with my feet anyway, rising quickly toward the surface. I wasn't getting anything done down here. If I stayed and thought crazy things any longer I might lose it again, grow scaly skin and swim off forgetting I'd ever been a person.

No. I hurriedly pushed that thought away, for the hundredth time. I was still a person. I was still human, wasn't I? So what if I could breathe underwater. My hands were still hands. My face was still my face.

The light began to brighten. I could tell I was coming nearer to the air again. Back again. How would they react? How long had it been?

Nim was in the water with me now, just a little ways up. I could feel him. And the others were not far away. And something else… what was it? Something else in the water… Not something alive, but something that was coming… Vaguely I could sense the tremor of it in their minds… I didn't know, but something told me I had better get to the surface quickly. Whatever it was it was coming fast.


	4. Call for Help

_So here's the fourth chapter at long last! In Caitlin's perspective again._

_sigh I'm such a procrastinator! I realize I do exactly what I get mad at my favorite authors for doing… and so whistlebird apologizes profusely for the long wait…again…hope it's worth the wait!_

_And I promise the next one will be much more exciting and not so long in the coming… hopefully_

_I do not own surface or any of its characters._

--

No one had a watch but I guessed it had been about an hour now since the tsunami. Maybe it had been longer, I didn't know. But it seemed like the sun had sunk quite a bit toward the horizon. Just a hint of orange stained the clouds. Where debris didn't litter our hometown ocean, the water caught it and threw the colored light at my eyes, as if determined to blind me from the mysteries it hid beneath the surface. As if it was laughing at us and how easily it had swallowed up the cars, the streets, the houses, the furniture inside them, even my own yard, and now Miles…though I refused now to think of him. Or I was _trying _not to.

My tears were just about dry by now and my brain felt numb. What _about _Miles I was thinking about, I wasn't even sure. Just mixed up memories, wishes, confusion. My thoughts collided with each other, meshed together and clogged up my mind. None of it made sense. I'd been standing so long at the edge, chin resting on my arms, eyes searching the water for so long my legs ached but I hardly noticed.

I told myself I was looking for signs of man eating monsters, or Nim, who hadn't made an appearance since that last time he jumped off after Miles. I knew _he_ was fine—he was practically invincible—but what was he doing?

Where was Miles? How could he be _dead_, really? Just like that, like that reporter we saw on TV…

_Crack_

The sound of a cell phone hitting concrete was the first sound I had heard in a while that was interesting enough to pull my eyes from my drowned hometown. So feeling a little lethargic, I turned my head only to see the man named Rich sitting against the wall pressing random buttons on his cell phone, muttering to himself. "Busted…just like that," I heard him say and then there was another crack and a crunch as he again smashed the thing against the ground.

_Huh?_ My head cleared a little. Even Laura broke from her reverie leaning against the roof and looked with surprise in his direction. "Rich?" she called uncertainly. "Are you alright? What are you doing?"

Rich glanced up for a second then went back to pushing buttons. He frowned when the cell phone refused to respond. No lights, no sounds. It was obviously done for. He could see that, couldn't he?

"Can't figure out what happened to it," he answered simply. "It's like it melted from the inside or something. Can static do that? Just look at it. Buttons are stuck, nothing inside moves—I can't even break it open. As if it's all been fused together." He paused. "Where did that green electricity come from anyway? Green… that kid—" He stopped again suddenly, shot a fleeting look at me. "Well anyway, it doesn't work."

"And… how is smashing it to pieces going to help us get off this tower?" Laura stared as Rich examined the cell phone, picking plastic splinters from its casing.

"What else is there to do? You want me to start yelling and hope someone from hundreds of miles away will hear us? Okay, here goes. HEY!! HEEEEEEEY!!" I jumped at the sudden sound, startled at the sudden _noise _that came from his lungs. I couldn't do anything but stare. "HEEEY!" He cupped his hands over his mouth and bellowed. "Anyone out there still crazy enough to be out there??"

"Rich—stop it! What are you doing?" Laura grabbed his wrist and tugged him away from the edge. "What are you going to do if they hear us? The ones that _aren't _human?"

For some strange reason, Rich was laughing. "You wanted me to do something and I'm doing something. You have any better ideas?" He sat back down again, still chuckling.

"I don't know. What do we have to work with here? We need to think of _some _way to escape. Helicopters don't just appear in time of need. And what if those creatures attack? Why haven't they attacked already?"

"Maybe Nim's keeping them away," I ventured, and they turned to me. "Miles said—I mean I think they communicate by thoughts. Maybe Nim's telling them not to come near."

"Thoughts? You mean they can speak to each other through some sort of telepathy?" Laura asked interestedly.

"How would you know how they communicate?"

Rich's question knocked my mind off track for a panicked second before I realized he wasn't accusing me. Now that Miles was—there was no reason to tell them anything. Not anything about Miles' connection to Nim and the others anyway. I still didn't know who they were. I didn't believe they were bad people, but just the same…

"Miles raised Nim from an egg," I explained hesitantly. "We've… learned some things about him because he's always around."

Rich's attention went back to the cell phone. Frustrated, he scratched the back of his head. "Even if that Nim creature is keeping his friends at bay, that still doesn't help us get off this cathedral. Is anyone else starving?"

_Why did he have to say that?_ Now I _did _feel hungry. I had barely eaten anything for breakfast in the rush my family and I were in, getting ready to escape the tsunami. Now I felt nearly sick with hunger and I wondered how I'd failed to notice. Adrenaline?

I sagged against the wall again, exhausted. My head still spun with thoughts I

didn't want to think. And now hunger added to it all.

And so it took me a few seconds to register what I heard.

A disturbance in the water. I jumped, a delayed reaction. Monsters? Fear wrapped itself around my throat and I didn't even look down before I thrust myself away from the edge, accidentally hitting Rich with my out-flung arm. He took one look at my face and stood up abruptly. "Laura," he grunted.

The air was suddenly intense, a choking throb. "What is it?" Laura asked, instinctively knowing the answer.

Rich twisted around, scanning our surroundings, our few belongings, which amounted to just about nothing. He flexed his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists. "No weapons," he breathed. "Let's hope we're too high up for them."

We stood frozen, waiting with our breath held captive in our lungs. I looked at Rich, and so did Laura. We expected the man in our group to go look over the edge for us and assess the danger. And so he did.

Rich stepped to the wall and looked back at the two of us huddled in the center of our sanctuary. A brief forced smile, meant to be reassuring, lit his face for a second and then he turned away to peer at what was below.

He was silent for a few seconds, as if in disbelief. Was he shocked at how many waited for us below? Were there that many? I braced myself for his next words and wished I could see his face.

But the words I heard next didn't come from the man in front of us. They came from below. A stranger's voice.

"Hey hey! What have we here? Is that you, Rich?"

Laura's mouth dropped open in surprise. "It can't be…" she muttered in disbelief and rushed to the edge. I followed reluctantly.

What I saw below was not what I expected at all. Not a monster, but a submarine, surfaced and with the hatch wide open. An unfamiliar man was out, waving away at us and smiling.

"Well what do you know? Laura? What in the world are you doing all the way up there all the way out here??"


	5. Instinct

Surface…part 5

_Aaaaaand here is another chapter! Once again in Mile's perspective. I hope this time I didn't make people wait too long… and I hope the writing's ok… but anyway, thanx for the reviews and enjoy! __warning: another cliff hanger coming_

_--_

The water above me grew brighter. I was close enough to the surface now that I could see the movement of shadows and light waves on the surface. My strokes quickened. I couldn't wait to breathe the fresh air above this stifling ghost town of an ocean.

Then my body froze mid-paddle.

_An enemy…not one of us. One of _them. _Destroy…_

Their thoughts, now an almost familiar tendril of feeling, invaded my head before I was prepared to fend them off. They weren't words, exactly, but the force behind them was irresistible. For a second, I couldn't see anything but the distorted image of the thing coming our way. It was a small, streamlined thing, shiny and foreign. It didn't belong here.

_Instinct._

I had no choice. I had to listen, had to obey, as one of them. All other thoughts, human thoughts, were being pushed aside by a wave of community emotion.

_Invader. A danger to us. _Humans.

I struggled to keep my head, still drifting halfway between surface and submerged houses. It wasn't what they thought. It was a… It took me a few seconds to find the word for it. I had to flounder past the same force that had claimed me that night at the beach, when the threat of the human guns made us—_them_—attack. I had to fight it…like I had then. This wasn't a danger we should fight. It wasn't even a real danger this time. It was a _submarine, _I realized; it was help! The help we needed!

_Nim!_ I called silently. I felt him coming, the connection between us clearer than ever. Even more clear than my connection to the other Nims. I also sensed the submarine draw closer. It was quick, but I didn't think it was going to be quick enough. We were faster. _Much faster. _

The water vibrated with their voices, shaking me along with the angry sound. A part of me felt that same anger, and the urge to attack in any way I could. I pushed back, halfway succeeding.

There were only a few here at the moment, but they were ridiculously huge. I could see some of them dimly through the murky haze of ocean. Shapes so big I couldn't see their entire outlines without moving my head. Would Nimrod get this big? A whale wouldn't stand a chance against these things, even if the Nims decided not to use their zap powers. Which, it seemed, they were going to use on the approaching sub.

A tension was building that sent tingles through my body. The electricity coursing through me responded, along with an excitement that wasn't mine.

_Attack! Attack soon!_

_No!!_

I fought their grip on my mind with all I had when I realized the target had come to a stop. When I realized it had come to a stop directly underneath the tower where everyone was trapped. The hatch was open. We knew it. We could feel the enemy's vulnerability. The others circled slowly, beginning to close in on the sub, blocking all ways of escape, though there wasn't a need for that. The prey was trapped, helpless, and most likely unsuspecting. The charge in the water intensified. The hunt was begun, and would end quickly.

I still felt Nim nearby, still approaching, just as excited as the rest of them, but holding back. For me, I realized. I felt his desire to join in with the rest. It was stronger than mine, but somehow he sensed the friend I saw in the enemy, and he wouldn't attack unless I did.

I heard voices. They sounded garbled, like they were coming from the inside of a blender, miles away. I moved toward them, unconsciously following those hunting the sounds. To the Nim side of me they sounded alien, a threat. The urge to attack grew stronger, but so did my resistance to the call. The human side recognized some of them. They were _friends_. Not enemies. _My friends_. And they were about to be attacked by eight man-eating monsters.

Nimrod—myNim—brushed against me, his much smaller rumbling purr distinct against those of the adults around us. His stocky body curled around me and in a second, his face was inches from mine. Our eyes met, and a rush of his thoughts connected with mine.

_Miles. Attack? _His yellow slitted eyes burned with an animal intensity, but also intelligence. They bored into me and our connection became something almost solid.

_No, Nim. These are friends. No attack. _

_Others attacking, _Nim countered. _Friends will be food. Though not tasty as fish._

As if in response to Nim's thoughts, the others began to move in. The electricity in the water seemed to sizzle, building to a physical buzz. Turbulence split the ocean into booming waves. I had to do something! Some of the voices above the water rose in pitch. Now they knew they were about to be killed.

In a panic, I reached out to the other Nims, grasping for their minds, trying to communicate to them. _Stop! _I yelled to them silently. _They're friends! No! _

They wouldn't listen to me. What could I do? They were like a pack of wolves, or lions—dinosaurs or something—intent on their prey. And I was just a human who happened to have a few of Nim's powers. They wouldn't listen to a human. But would they listen to one of their own?

_Nim, stop them! _

Nim turned away from me for a second to look at the others of his kind. He still yearned to join them. _Nim!_ The water was roiling. It was only a matter of time before the first bolt of electricity was sent out. It would be too late then.

_Can't, _said Nim. _But Miles can. Leader can. Miles led us away before. Led us. Was one with us._

Led them? What was he talking about? "Leader"? Who was that, me? But I…

A sudden mental image from Nim's direction hit me hard. A memory from Nim's point of view, as real as anything I'd ever experienced. A boy with my face but a creature's eyes walking past the beach and out to sea, into the water, and followed by almost a hundred little sea creatures. Fragments of images of that same guy reaching out a hand to a fearful, angry Nimrod, offering salt, swimming alongside him and so many others, glowing with energy, leading them all…

I found myself holding my head hard in my hands. I didn't _want_ to remember that. I didn't want to see myself like that! It wasn't me. I didn't have a choice. I was human, not _that_!

_Miles is one of us now. Leader._

_No…_ I tried to deny it. But my heart wasn't in it anymore. I surfaced, the air engulfing my face like a cold fire. A sickening light darted around me, thrown up by radioactive looking waves and a burning orange sun. Dimly, I heard my name. But my mind didn't register it. I couldn't be human and pull this off. I couldn't do anything, the way I was now. People were in danger again. _Caitlin_ was in danger. And time was out.

Together, the large Nims built up a final charge of energy. Together they would strike. And together, everyone on that building would be burned to a crisp.

I let go. My fears retreated to a distant part of my brain along with what was left of my resistance. My own name disappeared somewhere. I was _Leader_. And they would not kill what I loved.

The water around me crackled and I reached out to every one of the gigantic creatures' minds with my own thoughts and a single command, forcing all of my will and energy into it. For a moment, I was connected to them all, one with them all. They understood me and I understood them.

Then the ocean shattered into green light.


	6. Static

_Long time no see from whistlebird! I must apologize once more for the cliff hangers and ridiculously long pauses in between chapters… procrastination is a dreadful habit, really. =_=_

_We're back to a chapter's written in Caitlin's point of view, and I sure hope it's worth the wait. Thanks for the reviews! Please enjoy._

"Jackson?! How—what are you doing here?"

Laura sounded half strangled; whether it was with disbelief, relief, or joy I wasn't sure. Maybe all three emotions plus a few? Both Rich and Laura were leaning over the edge now, ridiculous smiles on their faces, which immediately put away any suspicions that this Jackson guy was any kind of threat. And apparently this was someone they knew. Were we saved? Did this mean we could get off this building? I tried to feel happy, but I think the emotion got stuck somewhere en route. It all seemed too easy, somehow. Too fast. Could we really be saved—just like that, when the chances that anyone would find us out here were so minute, I hadn't even allowed myself to hope?

And in the back of my mind, I felt I couldn't just leave. This city-ocean rooted me in place. Miles… How could I just escape, leave all that behind? My muscles went rigid, but I forced those thoughts again from my mind so I could fake a smile.

"Who's Jackson?" I asked.

Between exclamations they didn't hear me. "Buddy, aren't you supposed to be dead or captured?" Rich yelled downwards. "What happened?? And where'd you get the sub? You didn't give up and go and join them, did you?"

Them?

"What am I doing here? What do you mean, what am I doing here? What are a pair of crazies like you two doing getting yourselves stuck up there? You and trouble are like a fish and bait. How many times do I have to risk my butt for you guys? You owe me big time, by the way. Your life several times over should just about even the score with what I've gone through because of you."

I moved toward the edge again, drawn, despite myself, by curiosity to the man Jackson's voice. I peeked again over the side and locked eyes with the far away stranger. Bushy brown hair and a slightly boyish face, though he looked around the age of twenty or maybe older. The corners of his mouth twisted into a grin. "And it looks like you two aren't the only crazies. Where'd you pick her up? How many you got up there anyway? Ten? Twenty? Come on down! There's room for all, monsters not included."

"There's just the three of us, Jackson," Rich said without hesitation. "How'd you get the sub again?"

Laura, almost bobbing with impatience, shouted, "Never mind that. How do we get down?"

She was right. The distance between us and the water below, still filthy and now shattering vivid orange sunset colors into the air, seemed like miles. Miles and Miles… Miles. I looked away, forcing down fresh tears. _Stop thinking about that now. Stop acting like a weepy little girl. You're about to be saved. That's all that matters._ I set my jaw and blinked fiercely. _S_aved. We were escaping. Maybe I would get to see my family again after all. Be happy about it!

"Down… huh… well, how did you get up there in the first place? Just come down through the building or something and I'll pick you up down here."

Down through that trap door again? "Hey, isn't that dangerous?" I shouted. "The debris and the glass. It could all collapse in on us…"

"Would you rather jump?" I winced at the suggestion. "Come on, we haven't got all day, unless you want to be breakfast for the monsters. Well, dinner, anyway." He paused and crouched into the sub for a second, cocking his ear to hear a voice from somewhere inside that I caught only faintly. Suddenly he straitened and peered out over the water, shielding his eyes. I looked too, but all I could see were the same choppy ocean planes of the surface. When he spoke again, his voice shook a little nervously, though he tried to hide it. "Aaah… we got a bit of a monster problem, you mind picking up the pace a bit? Like a lot?"

Laura went pale, and Rich immediately strode to the trapdoor and ripped it open. He stepped back to take our arms and we stumblingly followed him. Fear clogged my mind, but it kept me from thinking too much about moving. _Them again. Were they the big ones? Where was Nim? _The ladder on the trap door was broken off halfway from the floor but the dropping distance wasn't too bad. Rich went first, cursing softly when he stumbled in the rubble on the floor. Then he assisted Laura and me by steadying us when we landed.

The place really _was_ wrecked. I would have looked around a bit, out of a morbid sort of curiosity, but there wasn't time for that. We picked our way through the debris. Crumbled doors, tables crushed against punctured walls, shattered stained glass—it was all a ruined, soggy mess. Was it really only water that did this? A wave? I suddenly had a newfound respect for Mother Nature's Kung Foo. She could really kick butt. And so could the ginormous Nims that would be after us soon. I hurried along after Rich and Laura.

Finally, after much stumbling and some swearing—mostly Rich's—we made it to what was left of the largest room of the church. The place was almost entirely filled with dirty ocean water. We would have to swim a bit to get to the windows.

For a moment we eyed the murky surface nervously. What if they were beneath the chapel water? Like that one before that had ignored us for some reason? Were they just waiting for us to get our toes wet and then _chomp chomp _and they swallow us like caviar? I didn't like that thought, so I shut it out too. No, I will not share a grave with Miles. I will live, and I will see my family again. There were people out there who loved me, and I just had to cross a little water to get to them. Easy as pie. Piece of cake. I really was hungry, even at a time like this.

Rich was first. He took a deep breath and jumped in. He came up shivering slightly and motioned for us to hurry. "Let's go. Easy does it," he muttered, and set out. Laura made a face and followed, and then me.

I meant to slip into the water quietly—just in case anything was listening—but at the last moment my foot slipped on something and I fell ungracefully and loudly with a splash. Water closed over my head and the discomfiting sounds of underwater filled my ears. Motion, things rubbing against each other, floating—monsters!

False alarm. I came up again and decided not to go back down. I was jumpy and I knew my mind would play tricks on me. I would hear monsters underwater whether they were there or not. So I doggie paddled to the window, gasping with cold all the way. Carefully I avoided wreckage, and then when I got to the top half of one window, I was sure to steer clear of the shards still connected to the building. A few more strokes and I was free of the building's deepest shadows. Still sunset. Not all that much time had passed, and I was briefly surprised. It seemed like ages.

I spotted Rich and Laura a ways ahead, all limbs still attached. Somehow we had survived the swim. We were alive. For now at least.

"Get over here, over here!" shouted the voice of Jackson. "Hurry up if you don't feel like a night in the afterlife!" The sub was just a little ways away, shining silver and orange in the fiery light. It seemed so much bigger up close than it had from the building. "Now! Hurry, hurry!" We could see him standing, motioning to us frantically and peering around wide eyed at the water.

"Just a little farther," Laura gasped.

"Hey…" I started, my voice wavering, and rising at the end to a strange pitch. "The water…"

There was a greenish tint to the water that was not normal. Ocean water often greenish, I knew (algae and fish goo and all that, etcetera), but not like this. It was a light that emanated from beneath the water and some distance away… in all directions. I floundered in the direction of the sub, getting panicky. It seemed familiar, that light. And the static in the air that suddenly prickled across my wet scalp and down my spine.

I remembered something then. That night on the beach, before I knew that everything was happening. It was the night of the beach party, when the boy went missing in the water. "There's something in the water," Miles had said. My entire body tingled, and not just with fear. A sharp tang of electricity was in the air, and the water became…

"Hurry up!" I shouted almost without realizing. "Get out of the water! There's something in the water!"

I realized Rich and Laura were shouting too now, and probably Jackson, though I couldn't really hear anything above the fuzziness in my head, growing by the moment. Where was I? The static was doing something to my senses. I coughed and spluttered, forgot what I was doing and found the smooth metal of the submarine beneath my fingers.

A green colored spark from the silvery surface leapt at me and I squeaked, jerking away. Then I jumped back. Crazy radioactive looking sparks danced above the water's surface too now.

We were doomed.

A strong hand grabbed my arm and half dragged me out of the water. I was shivering, jerking away from each new spark that tried to leap at me. I knew I should be helping, moving my legs and kicking my way up the side of the sub, but I was immobile. Rich was having difficulty pulling me. _We're going to die, _I thought. _We're all going to die right here and now._

"Everyone! Get inside the hatch! Now! Before they let loose on us!" Jackson was yelling and all I could do was let myself be dragged and stare at the choppy water, the sky's reflection, the sparks, and the fitfully moving shapes looming like whales beneath the surface of the water. It was strangely fascinating. I half wished the Nims would bring their heads above the waves so I could get a good look at them. How many were there?

Strange things to be wondering as I was about to be killed, I knew.

There, a head appeared above the water. A tiny face turned to look at me and stared with yellow eyes. Nim? Our Nim? Another head surfaced, and I blinked dizzily. Static was doing a jig before my eyes. No. Not possible. It was a face I never expected to see again.

…Miles?

"MILES!" I was on my feet, shouting, waving my arms. "Miles! Miles, your safe! You're—" I was cut short as I was hauled into the hatch and fell heavily and quite unexpectedly on top of the person who pulled me in. Vaguely I registered it was Jackson. Now I remembered him grabbing my arm, though at the time I had thought it was Rich.

The hatch was shut. I stumbled to my feet and grabbed hold of the ladder, excitement and electricity sending my adrenaline on a haywire rush. I started to climb but was pulled to the floor again.

"What the heck are you doing? Do you want to get yourself fried?"

"Miles!" I spluttered. "Miles is out there! We have to get him in, we have to help him! He's right there, with—"

There was a loud sizzling noise, a buzzing that surrounded us all suddenly and drowned out my voice. A dreadful crackling ensued and the sub shuddered beneath my feet. Then the noise died all at once and the lights and the sound of the engine went out, leaving us all in complete darkness.

And silence.

It was Jackson's turn to curse. But then there was a revving and the lights reawakened. Computer screens and equipment blinked to life all around me.

"Are we saved?" Laura murmured. She didn't sound as if she believed it were possible. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around it myself.

"That's it?" Rich asked. "We were about to be…"

"It is time we got going. Brace yourselves." A new voice. I looked in its direction and saw a man, his face somewhat Asiatic, sitting in a chair before a complex looking switch board covered in lights and buttons and screens. He appeared calm and collected in comparison with the rest of us, especially with our hair sticking up in odd places and our clothes sopping wet and dripping sullenly on the floor.

I wondered in passing who this was then headed again for the ladder. Again, I was pulled away, and this time Jackson kept his hands on my arms, holding me in place. He looked at me, clearly bewildered. "What are you doing?"

"Miles is still out there," I stated, and tried to tug away.

"Miles. Who is Miles?"

"Caitlin," Laura said to me in a voice meant to be soothing, though she was still quivering from fright, cold, and shock. "Miles is dead."

"You." The tone of Rich's voice was different all of a sudden. Hard and… accusatory? Like the voice you would use to greet your worst enemy. I thought it was directed at me and it distracted me for a second. I saw Rich's face then, and it was as different as his voice. It was a mixture of disbelief and anger. But his glare wasn't directed at me. He was focused on the strange man in the chair, whose face was a deadpan blank.

They faced each other in silence. I noticed Laura goggled as well, but not with anything like hate, just amazement. "Lee…" she said uncertainly.

Jackson cleared his throat. "Guess I don't really have to introduce you guys. You've already met."

The man gave a grim half smile that didn't quite make it to his eyes. "Nice to see you again," he said.


	7. Mind Play

_Hello! Long time to see from Whistlebird! I know it's been a reeeeaaally long time since I posted the last chapter… but here it is! (In truth I had half of this written like a couple months after the last one was posted. I procrastinate with major writer's block. Forgive me, but I do plan to finish this… eventually.) _

_Here's another chapter from Miles' perspective:_

_...  
_

Phil would flip if I told him what was happening now. Savanah would whack me upside the back of my head and tell me I needed to stop watching science fiction and get a girlfriend. My parents would probably, assuming they took me seriously, take me to a shrink at best and at worst commit me for my own good. Forget juvy camp. I wasn't a delinquent; I was a nut-job.

Because this was insane. Forget that I'd already established that fact a million times over the last few chapters, not to mention this last day or so. It was unbelievable. Period.

I was surrounded on all sides by ginormous man eating monsters, far beneath the surface and probably pretty far out to sea. No they didn't want to eat me. Apparently I wasn't man enough to eat. But I was one of them. Human (I think) but a part of their _family. _As if the fact that electricity was dully buzzing away in my veins, making my skin glow and I _still _hadn't drowned though it must have been hours since we last tasted air made me an honorary adopted monster club member.

We sped through the deeps in a massive group that spanned a few good miles of ocean, followed from far, far above in the sky by an equally massive tumbling wave of electric clouds. Where exactly we were headed I hadn't a clue, but we were getting there fast. Everyone slid through each other's currents as if it took no more effort than riding a slipstream of air. Nim swam right along beside me the whole time, his thoughts still somehow attached to mine as if they were a part of my own. _All _their thoughts connected with mine in that unexplainable way in a network so simple and yet so massive it made my head spin if I thought about it. So I didn't think about it. We were one and we had a purpose. I just went along with it. _We_ just went along with it.

The large group's sense of self was far stronger than mine. My own thoughts still ricocheted around against the insides of my skull, asking questions, wondering what was happening, where we were going, why I was there, what possessed me to follow them—but they were all distant. I could barely feel them sometimes. In those few lucid moments I had, that scared me. Until I forgot again. Just as before at the beach with the hundreds of little ones and again with the submarine, I was overpowered by the same unanimous will that fueled us all toward our destination.

Occasionally I caught more individual thoughts from the giants that surrounded me in the current of single-mindedness. _Hungry, _some would say. _Enemies close by, _others would warn. Sometimes one or a few Nims would break off for a while to hunt or scout. They always returned quickly.

_Getting closer._

My Nim was silent now, though I could tell he was keeping me carefully in his sight, while also keeping close tabs on any large Nimrods that came too near. I sensed that his thoughts were shielding mine as well, as if he was all that stood between me and the immense force that would break my mind to pieces like a sheet fragile glass. I tried sending a silent, awkward thank you, and received what I felt was a smug "that's right, without me you're puny brain would be mush", though it wasn't said in so many words. In one of those moments where I could think I also tried asking "where to?" but I didn't get an answer to that. Just an extra strong push forward from the communal rush.

After that I think I surrendered for a while, lost to any memories of my own or sense of time.

Eventually I became aware of this annoying tugging sensation. I pushed back, angry and groggy for some reason, but the tugging continued, more insistent. I shook it off.

_I was flying through the darkness, wings full of water, great dark shadows at my side, my followers, my friends. I was the head, the Leader. _Destroy_, we thought. _Forward, _we thought. We were strong. No weakling half-lives could block our path. Devour all that lies before us, feed our hunger, increase our numbers, we were—_

_Ow!_

My brain snapped back into place as I felt a sharp pain in my arm. _Owowowowow! _Dizzily I remembered who I was, and where I was. I was still swimming. The dark water around me was still full of enormous speeding shapes glowing the same electric green as my flesh. And Nim's face was clamped around my arm, sharp teeth embedded in my skin.

…Nim?

His slitted eyes fixed themselves on my face, regarding me coyly, like a cat. Then he released his grip on my arm and sidled a few inches away, his body snaking away through the water just beside me. I rubbed my arm where his teeth had pierced the skin. That would leave a mark.

_Leader. Lost in dreams is dangerous for leader. _

_Dreams? _What_? _

It was then I realized Nim wasn't the only one that had his attention riveted on me. My stomach did an odd turn when I looked around and queasily noted at least a dozen golden slitted eyes were specially aimed in my direction. I also noticed the group had almost come to a halt. What was going on?

I felt their thoughts distinctly within my head, but it was different from the last times. Before, they had been focused on an outside threat or goal, and I was simply swept up in their over-powerful feelings. This time… I was the center of attention. It seemed they'd finally noticed me. Was it finally my turn to be eaten?

I braced myself for a wave of killing intent, for the deadly static discharge. Holy crud, I was going to die…

But the hostility never came. The tendrils of thought that slipped into my mind, crazy as it seemed, only prodded and shuffled around curiously. Their force and number, and the raw power and strength barely sheathed within their thoughts would have knocked the breath out of me had I been breathing, but it was like they were just curious.

_WHO? _

The question came from a hundred different minds at once, and translated as a sharp pain in my head. I cringed. Nim moved protectively closer. _Not time yet, _he intoned in their direction. _Not strong enough yet. _

_Not strong enough. Strong enough? _A few thoughts echoed Nim's statement, as if testing it out for truth. _WHO? _The thoughts came stronger now, nudging my mind painfully, as if searching for the answer. _WHO? WHO IS?_

I grabbed my head as numerous buzzing curiosities charged the water and crowded my mind to bursting. I couldn't handle it. Lights began to dance around my vision and I think maybe it wasn't just the electricity returning. I cringed away from the glowing shapes that drew closer. _WHO? Not a half-life. US. Not us. Tiny strong power. WHO?_

This wasn't good. I was starting to black out…

_Destination close. _It was Nim's voice, or thought pattern. _Time running out. Go. Hurry. Everyone hungry._

Dimly, I felt the minds within my brain loosen and withdraw.

_HUNGRY, _they agreed after a few moments. _Must feed soon. Not enough fish here. Time to move on. _

I gulped in relief as I felt the last mind leave mine. I was exhausted. My head was aching fiercely and I fought to remain conscious. The group was moving again. Hundreds of mountainous bodies surged through the water anew. Without thinking, I began to follow, to move with them, but Nim stopped me with a bump of his snout. _Leader not strong enough yet, _he reminded me gently. _Must leave hunters for now, or suffer greatly. Too many here, too large. Not strong enough for so many. _

_Yeah… _I agreed faintly, only half understanding. _Not strong enough. _Had the water been this dark before…? Maybe it was that the brilliant darkling light from all the Nims was fading fast as they moved on without us, or the strange sense of loss I felt at their departure, but the water deemed to thicken suddenly, pressing in on my body and my eyes. At the same time, lights kept appearing at the very edges of my vision, though they fled whenever I turned my head to look at them. Weird… This was all so weird…

_Leader, _Nim sent, bumping me urgently. _Can't sleep yet. _

_Right, right. _Sure I couldn't sleep here, out in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't, but…

_Can't sleep, _Nim insisted, nudging me to get moving. _Human boat not far away. Sleep there._

Human boat? _Enemies. _Wait, no, that wasn't right… I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to remember something important. Boat… Human… I was… human? So boat must have meant something good, right?

From somewhere above me a thrumming sort of rumble grew near, shaking the faraway surface. I sensed life from it, heard noises and felt my heart leap with a buzzing static. For a moment I was ferociously hungry. I hadn't eaten in so long… It was my turn to hunt. Determinedly, I began to rise.

I caught a thread of amusement coming from Nim then, and stopped, shaking my head. Man, now was not the time to lose it, but I was losing it. I closed my eyes, wishing like never before that I could just wake up from it all. I was so tired, and my ears were starting to ring. Even my heightened senses were starting to lose focus. That WORD attack earlier had really done me in. I couldn't even think strait. Couldn't see strait. Couldn't hear strait. The darkness was caving in on me. I was rising, but it didn't make any difference, because the sun wasn't getting any closer. If anything, it was getting farther away…

I sat up suddenly, then banged my head against something hard and fell back to the pillow, groaning and pressing my hands over throbbing eye sockets. What a killer headache… What had I been doing? Had I been sick? That would definitely explain all those bizarre dreams I'd been having.

"Well smack me silly and call me a mackerel. The dead awakens," some unfamiliar voice spoke next to me.

I groaned again, annoyed. "Savannah!" I called as loud as I could with my throat as dry as it was. "Did you let one of your stupid boyfriends into my room again? I'm telling you this time I'm gonna k—oh." I opened my eyes and realized the man who spoke definitely could not have been my sister's boyfriend. Too old. Way too old and dirty. And bearded. And what was worse, this was definitely not my room, or even my bed.

"Aw man," I groaned, and closed my eyes again.

"You got that right, son. Looking at you makes me feel right fit and purty. I didn't think you were alive when we fished you out, no boat, no wreckage of anything in sight. How did someone as unconscious as you make it out alive? I'd say that's what I call a miracle. Isn't that right, Benny?"

"That's right." A gruff voice from further to the right introduced itself as yet another old man, this one slouching on a stool and resting a long shotgun on his lap. I sat up again, careful this time of the bunk inches above my head. The world bucked around me as I squinted blurrily around the cramped wooden cabin and two men inside it. There wasn't much in the room. It was mostly empty except for a cluttered desk, wrinkled, water-stained navigation charts, and dirty walls. Not to mention the putrid smell of rotting bait and fish oil. It was a fishing boat, I guessed, as the cabin rocked again and creaked.

So it had been real, all of it. Well of course it had been real. If it wasn't, I would have woken up from a dream like that ages ago covered in cold sweat and gasping. And I could still feel it inside of me: that creature side of myself that saw these surroundings as a cage and these men as half-life enemies. Instinct didn't like them and my inner lightning reacted just enough to send my heart buzzing. But I knew better. These men just saved my life.

"Uh." I started, clearing my rasping throat. "Thanks, I guess. For… for saving my life. Could I… could I have some water?"

The first old man guffawed loudly, slapping a thick thigh. "But haven't you had enough water, boy? Ocean's not enough for you huh? Kuhuh, don't worry, I'm way ahead of you. Here, drink this."

He handed me a brown canteen and I took it eagerly, bringing it to my parched lips. I took a large gulp then suddenly bent over double in the bed, coughing and spluttering, hacking, anything to get that stuff out of my mouth.

"Auuuhghg," I choked, still coughing. "Is this some kind of—hack—joke? This isn't—cough—water."

The man heaved backwards in his chair, guffawing and holding his round gut. "No, it's not water," he informed me. "It's better. Something my Ma made a recipe for, back in the day. Cures anything you got, and if it doesn't, you're done for anyway."

"Uh huh," I answered flatly when I could catch my breath, not sure whether or not I felt grateful. "So… where exactly are we?" I remembered uneasily the friends I had forgotten while with the Nims. Guilt pinched my conscience. Were they alright? That green electricity… they couldn't possibly have survived something like that, could they? Even if I'd somehow managed to convince the Nims to hold back at the last moment…could they have gotten away? Were they still stuck? Were they d…I didn't want to think about it. Caitlin…

"Where are we?" The man scratched the rough hair on his neck. "Now that's a good question. Where are we now Benny?"

"Not getting closer to where we gotta be. Those blasted monsters sped up again. And we'll lose 'em again if we don't get going, Ed." The man named Benny stroked his gun pensively.

"But don't you know _where _we are? We cast off at Stone Harbor, but we've gotten a ways North on the New Jersey coast chasing those things, am I right?"

"New Jersey?" I rasped, my voice cracking. "How the heck…" My vision blurred for a second. Wasn't I just in North Carolina a few hours ago? There was no way.

The great bearded Ed leaned back in his chair with a sigh. It creaked loudly as the cabin swayed. "Ah, what are we going to do about this now? We've got a kid aboard, Ben. Maybe the Monsters can wait. We should drop this one off at the nearest port and let him call up his folks or something, am I right?"

"We'll lose 'em again," Benny growled. He loaded the rifle with a clunk and glared fiercely out the cabin door. We may never get a better chance before they pick us all off. They're takin' over the world Ed, if we let 'em. I say we take the kid with us."

My stomach turned uneasily. Was he talking about the Nims? Of course he was, what else would be talking about? But wouldn't that put me on his hit list too? No, stop, I couldn't think like that. I wasn't one of them. I was human. They were just…

"Wait…" I said. "If you're talking about the giant sea monsters… How are you planning to kill them? There's got to be hundreds of them. They're huge."

Benny gave a throaty chuckle. "Oh don't worry. Follow me and you'll see." He grunted and stood, resting the gun barrel on one bony shoulder. He jerked his head at the door and headed out. Reluctantly, I slid my legs off the bunk and stood, swaying dizzily for a moment before staggering behind.

"Now, Benny," Ed protested as he followed us along a short corridor and up a ladder leading to the boat deck. "He's just a kid. And he's still fresh from the water last night. What if it was the monsters that got his boat or something? You think he'll be wanting to see them nightmares again after escaping death from them so soon? He don't need to see our weapons. What if he tells someone?"

Benny ignored his friend and continued to lead us while both my doubts and my curiosity grew. Weapons? What kind of weapons?

"Been collecting for years," Benny grunted as he emerged into the open air. The wind hit his face and whipped the pale grey hair from his eyes. The bright afternoon sunlight hit them in a way that made them glitter in a manic sort of way. We all climbed after him onto the deck and he led us to a heap of something tied down with a canvas. "Help me loose this, will you, kid? What do they call you, anyway?"

"Miles," I answered. I bent down and picked at a knot.

"Miles," Benny repeated, busy with the knots himself. "You're a man aren't you? How would you like to save the world?"

"Save the world?" My stomach sank like a ship. I knew what was coming. What kind of a wack-train had I gotten myself onto now?

"Yeah, save everyone, go down in history as the one who wasn't afraid to risk everything. The girls like a hero, don't they?"

"Ben, I don't approve of you preaching to a kid."

"Quiet, Ed. You want to be a hero, don't you Mike?"

"It's Miles," I corrected. "And I don't think I'm the guy you want. I've got to let my mom and dad know I'm alive and find out about my friends…"

"You want to protect your Ma, right? Or would you rather go see her and get eaten together with the rest of 'em all?"

"That's enough already from you, Ben," Ed said sternly. "Kid you don't have to listen to him—"

"Behold!" Benny ripped the canvas off with a crack like a whip. "This'll be the death of 'em all for sure!"

I gaped. I'd kind of expected something like this but the sight was still shocking. Boxes and boxes of weapons and explosives stacked on top of one another, and not just the kind of hardware you can buy anywhere. Some of the boxes had radioactive caution signs or warnings in bright red. On top of that, there was even a gigantic harpoon at the base of the pile. A _harpoon. _Did this guy think he was going whaling? And radioactive explosives? What was this guy thinking? Where'd he get all this?

I backed away. I couldn't help it. This stuff was dangerous. These men were dangerous. A now familiar buzz started in at the base of my spine and rose quickly to my neck then spread to my fingers. _What could these half-lives think they were going to do to us? How could they think to challenge us? _I had to do something about this.

But what? My mind was switching channels like television even as I looked back at Benny's avidly exultant face, fiery in the sunlight. Too bright. Ed was saying something but my ears had started buzzing too and my concentration was beginning to slip. _I'm human, _I told myself for the fiftieth time. _I don't need to do anything, just refuse their offer. _Refuse and get out quick. Where was Nim? I could just jump off and swim to shore, couldn't I? I wasn't too human for that.

As if in response to my thoughts I detected a tendril of familiar thought from somewhere nearby. _Miles_, Nim sent. _Miles in danger? Attack? _

_No, _I sent with difficulty, squeezing my eyes closed to shut out the violent buzzing of electricity in my head. If I opened my eyes would it show? Would they notice?

"Son, are you all right?" It was Ed's voice, and I assumed that was his hand on my shoulder. Somehow the contact helped clear my head. "Benny, cover that up. The kid's not ready for something like this. Come on, Miles. You still ain't feeling well, right? Let's get below deck."

"Right," I said. I felt calmer now and the electricity receded. Nim seemed satisfied I was alright as well and slipped out of my mind, leaving only the slenderest connection intact.

As Ed lead me back to the ladder and Benny grumbled behind us he pat me on the shoulder saying, "Don't worry kid, Benny can be a little overzealous, but he's not a bad guy. His son wouldn't join and it's been hard with just the two of us mannin' this ship. He believes the world is gonna end if we don't do something about it and I want to agree with him. But don't give it too much thought, son. I'll make sure you make it to a port soon as we can. I wouldn't want you gettin' mixed up in all this."

"Actually…" a thought occurred to me, but was I crazy? "Actually, I would like to go with you. Just for a while."

"You want to go with us?" Ed sounded as surprised as I felt. "Are you sure, kid? This ain't a child's game."

I wasn't sure. "Yeah, I'm sure," I said. "I'm not a child. I want to go with you."

_Nim, this is such a bad idea._

_Miles get stronger, _was all Nim responded.


End file.
